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coffee

I experienced some (momentary) guilt the other day as someone at a coffee shop near work (offering concessions to staff) caught me with another shop’s coffee!! Aargh, gasp. I was with a group so managed to convince them I was ‘along for the ride’ with them. Ridiculous stuff, but it made me think – what makes us go to different coffee shops?

Well, I’m in the ‘coffee capital of Australia’, so people take it a little seriously here (I’m easier to please), and don’t take kindly to the ‘big boys’ from the US. Here’s my list of criteria. A ‘yes’ answer gains a point, and a ‘no’ answer deducts a point: Some questions overlap, but sometimes you just have to peel the onion 🙂

Company is owned and run by someone in the shop

Company is owned and run locally (city or country)

Coffee is sourced from ethical suppliers

The staff ‘care’, and smile

There’s a shared tips jar

Location is convenient (this is thrown in because all other points may be good, but you’re not going to walk forever just to get a coffee!)

You can be ‘in and out’ in less than 4 minutes (on average) – i.e. queues

The price is reasonable (based on the scores for the above – a bit subjective)

You might even apply your own weighting for each point – i.e. ethical supply may be something you’re not prepared to compromise on, so give that 5 points (you get the idea).

Let’s just say apart from the coffee tasting like water, It’ll be a long time before I go to Starbucks!